Do you think Merck know ALL of our side effects but simply refuse to list them unless forced by the FDA or do you think that even Merck themselves know little about they’re own drug until people like us report these effects???
Will there be more changes to they’re leaflet in the future or will the drug be pulled from the market altogether?
Just a thought.
I personally believe that Merck played fast and loose with the data from their original clinical trials.
They should have played more of a scientific devil’s advocate, asking, What about those men who went off finasteride before completing the trial? Whatever happened to them a year down the road? And why, exactly, did they stop?
They also should have continued monitoring patients taking Propecia to see if any issues developed over 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years and so on.
And when patients called their hotline to report persistent side effects, they should have followed up with those patients. I called in 2010 and talked to someone who sounded like an intern, who said something to the effect of, “Oh, gosh. As soon as we get off the phone, I’m going to go upstairs and tell that to our scientists.” Then I offered to leave my name and number so they could get back to me and I could file a more formal report. But the Merck rep said that would not be necessary.
At that point, I thought I was the only person on the planet with adverse side effects from Propecia, and just wanted Merck to know, naively thinking they would be interested in collecting my data.
But Merck is not interested in anything other than collecting profits. They should change their tagline from “Be well” to “Be wealthy–at any cost.”
PR123
Totally agree with you. Most my symptoms developed after finishing this crap !!!
If they only conducted tests on those using the drug then thats a disgrace but what makes me more angry then anything else is that Merck as a pharmaceutical company as money grabbing bastards, its all about MONEY…MONEY…MONEY without a second thought for our health.
You know what made me laugh when I went to my Doctor a few weeks back, he said he regularly prescribes 5mg finasteride to many men over 50 and said " They are ok, so I doubt 1mg can cause you these symptoms, you must be depressed."
I then told him of this forum and that of the PFS and he agreed to look into it and said he would discuss with me on my return which was just under a week ago, he now seemed more sympathetic to my case but and agreed I did not come across as depressed nor did he feel the need to prescribe me anti-depressants and simply told me to " GIVE IT TIME" Maybe a few months and you should be fine he said… Well its been 3 months since my last pill and my penis is still shrunken, head is wrinkled, with an appearance of a red rash on the meatus and bends to the left, zero libido, poor sleep, confusion, blurred vision, no motivation and the list goes on… Cant see these things going away overnight somehow.
Why dont Merck mention changes to your penis in terms of physical changes???
ARSEHOLES !!!
Hey PR123, cheers matey for getting back to me on this thread.
I’m experiencing some anger today and cannot keep off this forum as I feel its my only outlet and no other bastard, including family, friends and medical professional even have a fucking clue of PFS, especially in the UK and no law firms are even taking on Merck over Propecia and never have so it feels like there is no hope !!!
Hang in there, my friend.
I know it’s taken time, but look at the progress we’ve made in the past 18 months alone:
-April 2012: The FDA ordered Merck to revise the labeling on Propecia to reflect mounting evidence that it can cause persistent sexual dysfunction:
fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/Inf … 299754.htm
-May 2012: PFS victim Kevin Malley stages a hunger strike on Merck’s doorstep: pfsfoundation.org/wp-content … 2-2012.jpg
-July 2012: Dr. Irwig’s research on the dangers of Propecia is picked up by the likes of Diane Sawyer, Brian Williams, Matt Lauer and Dr. Drew:
youtube.com/watch?v=uH7JgXQIV_k
-August 2012: The Post-Finasteride Syndrome Foundation is established, headed by Dr. John Santmann, an ER physician with degrees from Johns Hopkins and Washington University School of Medicine:
pfsfoundation.org/news/pfs-f … -syndrome/
-September 2012: The Australian Financial Review (aka the Wall Street Journal of Down Under) reports that “disaffected consumers in the United States and Canada…have established the Post Finasteride Syndrome Foundation with the primary goal of finding a cure and a secondary goal of raising awareness of the syndrome”:
afr.com/p/lifestyle/mens_hea … hspW7YRwBJ
…and, in turn, Wikipedia editors cite the PFS Foundation on Merck’s Wikipedia page, under the “Propecia” section:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merck_%26_Co.#cite_note-49
-March 2013: The PFS Foundation is granted nonprofit status by the IRS as a public charity:
pfsfoundation.org/news/the-p … c-charity/
-July 2013: Harvard Medical School teaching affiliate Brigham and Women’s Hospital launches a PFS Foundation-funded clinical study of PFS, aiming to “identify causes at molecular level of this condition potentially affecting thousands of men worldwide”:
pfsfoundation.org/news/clini … affiliate/
And that, I promise you, is just the beginning.
The walls are fast closing in on Merck CEO Kenneth C. Frazier. He knows it. All he can do now is try and limit the company’s liability to a few billion dollars. If, as with Vioxx, he can get out of this one for under $10 billion, the financial community will once again hail him as a hero.
So be it.
But at least a good chunk of those billions will be poured into additional medical research that, hopefully, leads to effective treatments in the coming years.
At that point, it will be comforting to know that Merck can never again utter the words “There is no scientific data showing that [Propecia and Proscar] cause persistent impotence after discontinuing use,” as Merck spokeswoman Lainie Keller told The Toronto Star in April:
thestar.com/news/canada/2013 … otent.html
PR123
Thank you for you positivity, I’m at the stage were I’m dabating giving up my career because of this crap !!!
Do you work at all since your problems?
Whilst we are communicating, what has given you such positivity?
What keeps you going?
What are your thoughts on PFS and alcohol use?
Regards
Here’s my inspiration:
-Serpico (1973)
-The Insider (1999)
-Erin Brochovich (2000)
All true David vs. Goliath stories of exposing corruption. And I imagine in 2020-something, Hollywood will deliver yet another award-winning entry into this genre, about the Propecia fiasco.
So, just for fun, let’s vote on who’ll play the villain–Kenneth C. Frazier. Here’s my short list for that plum role:
-Don Cheadle
-Courtney B. Vance
-Giancarlo Esposito
-Mos Def
Ehehehe Don Cheadle…
I agree we have the momentum, as someone who works in the legal profession working on similar types of class actions, it’s not so much a matter of whether they have to pay out at this stage, it’s a matter of how much…
Maybe merck has calculated that they will make more profits off fin than they will have to payout in lawsuits.
i do not know for sure of course, but this was my thought exactly
I suspect as a matter of course that they have factored in for this in their analysis. What would be great would be for payouts to exceed profit from propecia to show all pharmaceutical companies that there are real financial consequences. I don’t know anything about the law, but it would be fantastic if there was the power to demand that they hand over all paperwork they have on propecia. I would be incredibly surprised if they didn’t know a hell of a lot more at the research stage and I suspect that they have p.r.'d the facts to get it past both the FDA and the public e.g. penile shrinkage on a possible side effects leaflet would label it as toxic before it even leaves the shelves and it would have been dead in the water. Although they are working within “the law”, what they’ve done is ostensibly criminal (like many other drugs/companies) and the system, and their power, has to fucking change.
Can anybody answer me this…
If they are forced to pull it from the market does this automatically mean Pay outs???
I would recommend you buy or download the Snigdha Prakash book “All the Money Justice Can Buy”. Its a great story that follows two of the plaintiffs in the Vioxx trials in the mid-aughts. Prakash has unfettered access to the prosecution cases, as she is embedded with the plaintiffs team. Its paints a damning picture of Merck - shocker! - but also lays bare the nuts and bolts of a mass tort lawsuit. I would recommend it for all the Propecia guys as we may all be going through the same courtroom machinations within a few years.
But to answer your question - the book discussed the recall of Vioxx in detail. Merck’s defense in the Vioxx scandal was that as soon as the scientific research showed Vioxx caused heart attacks, they pulled it from the market. That being the case - many of the plaintiffs lost their case against Merck. Part of the reason was because of the type of person likely to use Vioxx - older, many with preexisting conditions, smokers, etc. It was pretty easy, I think, for Merck to plant reasonable doubt in the jurors minds that these older, unhealthy people could have had heart attacks anyways from their poor lifestyles. They also essentially argued “Hey - we pulled the drug as soon as we found out it was dangerous!” We all know that’s bullshit - but at the time Merck still had a somewhat decent reputation and many jurors could be excused for believing it.
Our case, I believe, is much, much different. For one, there is a lot more smoke (patient reports from around the world - and the uniqueness of the symptoms - genital shrinkage, genital numbness, ejaculation issues, etc.) than fire (scientific proof of PFS). That being said - Merck essentially warned European men for 3 years BEFORE they added the warning to the US label. In the Vioxx trial, at least, Merck could claim “Hey - we didn’t know!” because if you had a heart attack AND you were taking Vioxx, you were not likely to to connect the two events AND call the Merck hotline to complain.
In our case, however, Merck/regulatory agencies were receiving so many calls that they were forced to update the label(in Sweden, Italy, Britain, et al). Merck can’t claim ignorance in our case - even if there is no recall, if research shows PFS exists, I believe Merck is toast - simply because they ignored COUNTLESS patient complaints. (Not to mention most of the PFS victims were YOUNG, FIT, Prime of their life Motherfuckers who had never been sick before…good luck explaining that one, Merck Asshole Lawyers)
Agree? Disagree? All I know is - I want a fucking cure - and I want the bastards that created this poison to be forced to spend every last cent of their ill-gotten Propecia profits to find said cure.
Actually, no, they are not working within the law. Lying to the US Government breaks several laws, one such is the False Claims Act:
“Knowingly presenting, or causing to be presented a false claim for payment or approval”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_Claims_Act
Did Merck knowingly present false information to the US Government? Let’s see:
s1303.photobucket.com/user/Recal … ort=3&o=11
s1303.photobucket.com/user/Recal … ort=3&o=10
s1303.photobucket.com/user/Recal … sort=3&o=8
s1303.photobucket.com/user/Recal … ort=3&o=13
Not to mention each state has its own version of the law and other deceptive trade Practice Laws. A few states sued Merck for Vioxx, but most don’t have the money to do so.
They did monitor their patients, and look what they found: the exact opposite of what they told the Toronto Star (and countless other media).
Was the study on the left an actual Merck conducted study? Or was it and independent research study?
Ok, but don’t get too excited. I remember hearing they had documents showing heart attacks from Vioxx. Merck is just too big and powerful, don’t expect any justice.
I love you Second Amendment.
Wow. With that attitude from one of their victims, no wonder they get away with so much. I for one don’t care how “big and powerful” they are.
